I'm travelling into a new way of working, a new country, a new language, and a new hobby which I'm passionate about. Come with me for some of the journey...

Sunday 23 July 2017

A Natural Tag Trio

Hello all!  I've landed, and I'm almost unpacked, but not yet back on UK time sleep-wise.   I keep spending a good four hours wide awake in the middle of the night which makes me a little sluggish come the daytime, sadly.  I guess I'll catch up with myself soon.  Oh, and I'll be drawing my blog candy as soon as I do.

And speaking of catching up, this is something of a bonus post.  When my PaperArtsy word stamps were launched last month, I completely forgot about today's trio.  I'd prepped them in England before setting off, tucked them in an envelope to take with me to New York, ready for finishing off with the stamps once they arrived, and then completely forgot they were there!  I found them just before I was due to come home again, so I finished them off, and I'm here to share them today... the missing trio of launch-night tags.


They're very simple tags, in earthy natural tones (a bit of a theme round here along with my recent Natural Oxides), using the 7 Dots Studio collection Nature Walk as the base.  From there, I just played mix and match with the quotes and some of my (many) PaperArtsy stamps.  The three quotes are all from EAB01 Trees and Flowers.






The main reason I needed to get my samples essentially ready before heading off was that I wanted to be able to use any of the stamps which came to mind - and I didn't want to pack all of them in the suitcase!

So here, this lovely flower from Scrapcosy ESC03 is the perfect partner for the Buddha quote - though of course there are any number of flower stamps out there which would also sing out loud to the same words.













The quote is stamped, cut and mounted on another panel of the Nature Walk paper over padded tape for extra dimension.














And in the background, I've used the quote stamp to add extra detailing.














For each of the tags, I've followed the same basic design - that's why they work as a set.

The glorious Sara Naumann bird from ESN18 takes his perch overlooking the wild wood.













This isn't the whole of Henry James Slack's quote - don't look too closely - that's a comma not a full-stop at the end.








I considered doing tricksy things with the inking to make it right, but decided I didn't mind too much, and I love how the ancient wisdom and dignity of the bird aligns with the description of the ancient wood.

And again, those same words provide some extra interest to the background.












Finally, the lovely tree negative from the Urban Snapshots Nature Plate 3 is paired with the Friedrich Nietzsche words.

No need to tell you this one is not only about trees!













The quote is again mounted on padded tape and has the usual wisp of cheesecloth adding a soft touch of movement to the tag.













You could equally well use this tree with Slack's ancient woodland quote.  And I find that when you pair the images with different words, the images themselves somehow change too.













There's more cheesecloth forming the topping of the tags, with some fine twine fastening it in place.














And you can just catch the echo of the words, whether in clear light...
















... or even in the darkest of shadows.








So that's my missing trio.  I hope they were worth waiting for.  I'm going to post them off to Leandra now that I'm home, so that they can join the rest of the samples on the display walls on the PaperArtsy stand.  And now that we're back up and running here at Words and Pictures, I hope to be better at hopping round to visit your blogs and catch up with you as well as myself!  Happy Sunday all!

The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach.
Henry Beston

45 comments:

Amanda said...

Glad they didn't stay lost, beautifully tranquil feel to this trio given depth with your fabulous quote stamps. Bet your glad to be home and hope you get over your jet lag soon
Love
Amanda x

Jane said...

Welcome home Alison I hope your sleep pattern returns soon. What a gorgeous trio of tags...so atmospheric! Your stamps are fab...many congrats! xxx

chrissie said...

Pleased you are home again Alison and look forward to seeing more on your blog when you catch-up with time or it catches up with you.

The trio of tags is amazing and the quote about seeing the single flower took me back to biology lessons and dissecting a poor flower and drawing every little bit and labeling it. Certainly something I have never forgotten and I can do lots more crossword clues because of it.

Take care

Love Chrissie xx

Helen said...

Glad you made it home and are almost back with us timewise!! no doubt you'll be jetting off again just as you get sorted... hopefully you get a bit of time to relax first! Your tags are gorgeous, it goes without saying (but that would be rude, so I'll say it anyway!)

Cestina said...

Lovely. The Slack quote reminds me of one of my favourite Ali Burns' songs - Draws me Up which contains the words "bark-gnarled, and twisted, and furrowed". Takes me straight into a wood with many mushrooms waiting for my basket....

Lucy Edmondson said...

These are gorgeous, Alison, I love how you have mixed up the stamp collections you have used. I am enjoying using your flower words set very much,

Lucy x

Valerie-Jael said...

Gorgeous tags, love the natural look and all the loving details. Good to see you back again, hugs, Valerie

Cocofolies said...

What a beautiful trio, Alison... Gorgeous inspiration with your words, that I will have one day I promise (and certainly use this time, unlike the AO stamps I bought thanks to you, almost never inked yet to my great shame).
I hope you are well, good to see you back!
Sending you hugs and love xx

Fliss said...

Glad to hear you got back safely Alison and hope the time lag issue sorts itself out soon.
Your trio of tags are absolutely beautiful and love the neutral shades which go with the nature theme so well. Love your gorgeous quote stamps too which are on my wish list.
Fliss xx

susan hemann said...

Wonderful tags and quotes!

Julie Lee said...

This is such a lovely trio, truly evoking the natural world! It's fascinating how your words work with the images to always create something a little different. I do love that Urban Snapshot tree: I think it's one of my all time favourite stamps. I'm so glad you re-discovered these and were to finish and share them with us. xx

Nan G said...

Definitely worth the wait! Welcome home Butterfly! Hope you can catch your breath and stay awhile. :) Have a lovely weekend. Hugs

Dortesjs said...

who oo what cool and gorgeous tags, I do love the winter theme on them and the softness

froebelsternchen said...

Welcome back Alison - great that this trio didn't stay lost - it is so so beautiful!
This are special beautiful tags - I love them!
oxo Susi

hazel said...

Welcome home Alison, I love your tags they're beautiful.
xxx Hazel.

Chrissy said...

A FABulous trio Alison and you were so lucky to find them..I love your quote stamps and gorgeous natural colours on your tags.,

Luv CHRISSYxx

suzyb said...

You will feel rested up soon and back to normal, but if you find yourself awake in the middle of the night, make more tags :) These three are lovely and I especially love the birdy one. Your go to natural pallet of colour are like mine. I do love playing with those Oxide Inks and have finally begun my collection of them :)
Play on!!
Victoria, BC

Corrie Herriman said...

These are amazing ! You have such a way with these muted colours ! Fantastic !
Corrie x

Redanne said...

They were definitely worth the wait Alison, they are beautiful! I particularly love the negative tree. The Buddha quote is one of my favourites from the sets! Anne xx

rachel said...

these were worth waiting for alison - a beautiful trio displaying your quotes perfectly! Hugs rachel x

Meggymay said...

Its a wonderful trio of tags we never loose our crafty makes, we just put them somewhere safe, as you did with these beauties.
I hope you catch up with your sleep and are settle back home.
Yvonne xx

Astrid Maclean said...

A fabulous trio and great backdrops to your quotes! Love the additional texture of the cheese cloth behind the words. Hope your jet lag will pass soon...

Sue said...

Welcome home Alison, and good luck with the jet lag. The tags are wonderful, they have such a stillness to them. Have a good week xx

Julia Aston said...

These are just beautiful Alison! they almost look like old sepia photos in the browns and white - and I just LOVE your sentiments - I keep looking at the US companies that are supposed to have them but don't yet.... the little bits of cheesecloth add great texture to each of your designs! Hope you are over your jet lag soon! Julia xx

Craftyfield said...

They wouldn't look out of place in this fortnight PA challenge theme! Beautifully done, in a monochrome Vintagey palette. I hope you are getting a bit of R&R or even a holiday now you're back!

Inky and Quirky Designs said...

Well they were certainly worth waiting for Alison!! They're absolutely beautiful and I really love the way your fab word stamps bring them all to life
Hugs
Donna xx

Kate Yetter said...

Such beautiful tags! I love how you are all about words and how you incorporate that and make it a essential part of your art. Glad to have you back in blogland. :)
Kate

Brenda Brown said...

These are utterly delightful Alison, a wonderful trio of beautifully designed and coloured tags that I'm so happy got found and finished. Hope your body clock gets back into UK time soon, it's always worse coming back from the States I find, but at least you are catching up with your beautiful art in those quiet few hours. Take care xxx

Nikki Acton said...

Welcome home! How could you possibly forget about these! I love how you have achieved such wonderful contrasts with a limited colour palette and the subtle background accents of your quotes look great! Xx

craftytrog said...

Welcome home Alison! Your tags are beautiful, so pleased you found them! I love your new quote stamps, hoping to pick them up at Stamperama next month.
Alison xx

Dorthe said...

They were surely worth being found again, Alison- so very beautiful each, and love the peaceful feeling they all bring.
I t must be good to be back home again, dear- enjoy !! xoxo

Anneke said...

These tags look amazing! Love the quotes that you have used.

Lys said...

What a wonderful oversight! I love how you used the quotes stamps too for the background... An elegant trio!

Marjut said...

So Beautiful tags.

Mrs.B said...

A beautiful earthy trio of tags and the quotes you've used with each one really brings them to life.
Hope your body clock get back into sync soon.
Avril xx

Anke said...

Oh Alison, your tags are so lovely, a beautiful and elegant trio.

Hugs
Anke

Julia said...

The neutral colours are beautiful on your nature tags. I like the little cheesecloth additions, very wispy and fragile looking. These images work really well with your lovely words. x

maj. said...

Beautiful!!! Love the colors!

Anita Houston The Artful Maven said...

Good for you to be home I'm sure. LOVE your tag trio...neutrally awesome! You do it so well!!! Sorry to have been absent a while but thanks for your support.

SewPaperPaint said...

Really so pretty and the trio design is amazing. Love that you layered the quotes. Love these so much! Hugs, Autumn

Neet said...

I just had to have a cuppa and a catch up - so you see I am working backwards through your blog whilst drinking my favourite tisane.
So glad you posted these and I look forward to seeing them irl at one of the shows when I go to spend time watching Leandra (one of my favourite people in the world). So glad you found this missing trio which is beautiful. They are so calming and I could get lost in an ethereal wisp of calming influences just looking at these. Love the addition of the cheesecloth and the string. Goes so well.
Off dreaming, Neet xx

Jackie PN said...

I so love your style dear Allison! Love the cheesecloth as well!
xx

pearshapedcrafting said...

Welcome home! I love these tags that all have such a wonderful calming effect when I look at them (I'm a bit frayed around the edges at the moment!) Hope you are getting back to normal sleep patterns now! I would have to add to Henry Beston's quote - the sound of rustling leaves before a storm, a trickling brook and a waterfall! Hugs, Chrisx

pearshapedcrafting said...

Welcome home! I love these tags that all have such a wonderful calming effect when I look at them (I'm a bit frayed around the edges at the moment!) Hope you are getting back to normal sleep patterns now! I would have to add to Henry Beston's quote - the sound of rustling leaves before a storm, a trickling brook and a waterfall! Hugs, Chrisx

A Pink said...

Love the neutrality of these! Alison. Really allows those lovely words of yours to be the real focus .
x